If you dare wear short shorts

Millennials are a favorite target these days, whether it is their rebellious nature, reliance on smart phones, or penchant for "booty shorts." We seem to forget we went through all this before, several times in fact, just the gadgets are newer.

The reaction to booty shorts really cracks me up as they have been around for decades. Yet, it has become an issue in some workplaces, where they are seen as a distraction. Hooters made booty shorts standard wear for its employees, as have many other restaurants, retail outlets and gyms. Back in the 70s and 80s, we had sawed-off jeans personified by Daisy Duke, and other such "short shorts" that made mens' heads turn. These "booty shorts" are a throwback as are many fashion trends these days like the super mini dress. Yet these shorts are being used as one more reason to attack Millennials.

So what is it about Millennials that seem to tick so many people off? Maybe we don't like to see that we are aging, and so we begrudge the current young generation for flaunting it in our face. The clothing restrictions being placed in many schools and workplaces around the country target women for the most part. Women are viewed as temptresses threatening the social order we try to establish. We don't go as far as the Taliban by imposing burqas on them, but dress codes are becoming more and more strict in America, and young persons are doing what they do naturally -- rebel.

As a result, Millennials, and what I guess you could call post-Millennials, are being publicly shamed for their insolence. The more rules we try to impose, the more they rebel, and why shouldn't they? You wanted to know why The 100 is so popular. We have always taken to the streets, or the woods in this case, when we don't think the rules are fair.

I think the issue is deeper than booty shorts and goes to the core of the individualist identity that has emerged among teens and young adults. They don't define themselves by our rules, they don't align themselves with our political views and for the most part have shrugged their shoulders at religion. Millennials flocked to Bernie in this election cycle because he recognized their independent nature. For the political establishment that is a bad thing because the usual tropes don't apply to Millennials. The majority political parties actually have to work to get their votes.

This is a generation that has seen nothing but entrenchment and constant bickering in politics over the past three decades and yet we are upset they are more cynical than we would like them to be. They have had to endure this constant nattering at home, at school and in the workplace and basically said, "fuck it." I don't think many of them would have even bothered with this election cycle had not Bernie pitched up, but he has given them a platform to express their discontent and we don't like it.

Parents get upset when their kids tell them to shut up, but you see more and more of that these days. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing because we say a lot of stupid shit and they have to hear it day in and day out. Maybe if we stopped to listen to our kids rather than constantly berate them for speaking out of line, we might find out they aren't so different than we were when we were young.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Dylan in America

Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.

Team of Rivals Reading Group

''Team of Rivals" is also an America ''coming-of-age" saga. Lincoln, Seward, Chase et al. are sketched as being part of a ''restless generation," born when Founding Fathers occupied the White House and the Louisiana Purchase netted nearly 530 million new acres to be explored. The Western Expansion motto of this burgeoning generation, in fact, was cleverly captured in two lines of Stephen Vincent Benet's verse: ''The stream uncrossed, the promise still untried / The metal sleeping in the mountainside." None of the protagonists in ''Team of Rivals" hailed from the Deep South or Great Plains. _______________________________ From a review by Douglas Brinkley, 2005

TripplerAugust 22, 2016 at 5:07 AM
To their credit, the majority of Millennials do not appear to be succumbing to the idiotic right wing political correctness that Gen X seemed to like. This is likely why so media kooks attack them so much. How anybody can buy into all that right wing horsebleep is beyond me. Good to see that these young folks are smart enough to know better.
James FergusonAugust 22, 2016 at 10:17 AM
There is someone out there! Nice to hear from you again, Trip. I deleted the extra post. Yep, it seems Sean Hannity can't wrap himself around the idea there aren't very many young Republicans out there, at least not those that subscribe to his brand of conservatism.

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